She finally lost one!

Yesterday Isabel came home from school so hungry!! I asked if she had eaten her lunch at school, she said "my tooth hurt sooo bad, I couldn't take any bites." After she ate, she came up to me and asked if I would take out her tooth. I was pretty surprised because of the fit she threw when I tried to wiggle it the day before. All I had to do was give it a tiny tug and out it came! She was so excited, She said,"eating hurt more that that did!" It was really funny. The tooth fairy came last night and left money for both her and Evan (the tooth fairy must have been busy the night Evan lost his!) they were very happy this morning. I'm sure Miss Isabel will be losing another tooth soon, she has two more that are loose. Will is a little jealous, all day he was asking me to pull out his tooth! We get such a kick out of that kid!

Visit from the tooth fairy!

Evan lost his first tooth yesterday!! He was so excited, not only to get a visit from the tooth fairy, but also to lose a tooth before his older sister, Isabel! She was not happy about it at all. She has three loose teeth, but wont let me anywhere near them. Evan keeps telling her "it really hurts and bleeds a lot!" She is now thinking she doesn't want to lose a tooth. Evan is so cute. Today while brushing his teeth, he was spitting out the toothpaste through the new gap in his teeth. I'm sure he will be learning all kinds of new tricks!

Pretty Smile

I just thought I would share this picture of Lillia. It is really difficult to get a good picture of her. She will be just as happy as can be, squealing (she still doesn't laugh)and smiling, so I will get the camera. As soon as she sees it, her face goes stone cold. This was actually the first time she sat in her high chair, I guess she liked it. I can't look at this picture without smiling. I hope it has the same effect on you!

Baptised already?

Isabel had her baptism preview tonight. I am in shock that she gets baptised this year! She seems really mature sometimes and I wonder how she can be only seven, but tonight I just wanted to cry. Thinking that my "baby girl" is old enough to make this big step! I thought that I had done a good job teaching her everything she needs to know to get baptised, but tonight made me wonder. I want her to be ready, to be sure that she knows that this is the right thing to do, and not just because Mom and Dad want her to. She got up in front of everyone and sang the baptism song tonight, with all the kids in our stake that are getting baptised this year. I was in tears, not because I'm sad, but because I know it is the right thing for her, the spirit was really strong. We are going to have a family home evening once a month about baptism and what it means, to help her (and me) be ready. Megan, you guys are welcome to join us. I think that Jace is the next one in the family to take the plunge. Maybe I should just relax a little,we still have until October! :)

LILLIA'S CRAWLING!!!!

Lillia started crawling today!!! She is still a little bit wobbly and slow (thank goodness) but she is so excited to be on the move. She gets to where she wants to go and just beams. It is really cute. Will sits in front of her and calls to her like shes a puppy, he even pats his legs and claps, if he could whistle he would! She has also started saying da-da which Jason likes to rub in my face every chance he gets. I can't believe how fast she's growing.

Happy New Year!!

We had a little New Years party with Jason's brothers and their families. It was a lot of fun, we ate a lot of really good food, and played games, and the kids ran wild all night! I don't think that the kids have ever stayed up that late before. I was really surprised that they made it to midnight, well at least the older three did. Will went up to his room and got in bed with out saying anything to anyone! It was pretty funny, when I realized he was gone I went upstairs to find him curled up in a ball on his bed fast asleep. I took him downstairs to get a picture of the kids at midnight. He didn't even wake up. The next morning I told him what had happened and he didn't believe me until he saw the picture, then he just smiled and giggled. What a cutie! As I look back at the past year I realize how blessed we are. I think to often I get wrapped up in my problems that I don't focus on the good things in my life. This year Jason changed jobs, which has been such a blessing, he has been able to spend so much more time at home with me and the kids, it has been wonderful. We had a new addition to the family. Our beautiful Lillia Christine. She is such a sweet spirit and I am so thankful to be her mom. The kids all experienced something new and special and everyday brings more change and more blessings. So that is my New Years resolution, to focus on the good and not the bad, to look for the good that happens everyday, and to be thankful for everything in my life, big or small. I hope you all have a wonderful new year!

Erickson Family

What a beautiful family

Erickson Christmas party

On the 26th we had our Erickson Christmas party. It is always crazy when we all get together. Jason has a huge family, if I counted right there were 43 people all together. We had a big dinner and opened gifts and we worked on making humanitarian kits. It was really cool to see everyone and share this special day. The kids had such a blast! They love to get together with all their cousins. Grandma and Grandpa Erickson have so many grand kids, I sometimes wonder how they keep them all straight! Jason really has an awesome family, I don't think there are to many families this size that can get together and not have at least one fight or disagreement, but this family can. They really do all care and love each other and want the best for each other. I think they are all remarkable, and I am really lucky to have married into such a wonderful family.

Christmas Morning

My kids are pretty good about sleeping in on Christmas. I know it's strange, but they will sleep until seven or longer. It is really nice considering Jason and I are normally up pretty late Christmas eve getting every thing ready. My dad on the other hand is a big kid at heart and can't stand sleeping in longer than five o'clock, so he of coarse woke every one up at the wee hours of the morning! I think Jason and I were the only ones who seemed to mind. The kids were so happy to see that Santa had come. This was the first year that we have been away from home on Christmas, it was a lot of work, but a lot more fun. We were able to open presents with of coarse Grandpa and Grandma, but also Charlie and Candi and their cute Boys, Liam and Aiden and Zac and Liberty. Pip and Ryan were able to be there the night before. It was so much fun to be able to share Christmas with all of them. I wish I had taken a picture of the Christmas tree before we started opening presents, there were so many gifts it was a little crazy. We ran out of room under the tree and started lining the room with packages. My parents always go a little crazy.

Helping Grandma

Evan and Will were so happy to help Grandma make the stuffing for Christmas dinner. My family always puts raw peanuts in our stuffing, (I know it sounds odd, but don't knock it until you try it, it is the best stuffing ever!)the thing is, it takes forever to peel the peanuts. So the boys thought they would help. I thought for sure we would have peanuts and shells every where, but they did really well. Every time I asked Will what he was doing, he would smile and say " Merry Christmas!" What a cutie!!

Sledding

Grandma and Grandpa Brown live on a golf course that has these great hills for sledding. The kids had so much fun, going out almost every day and sledding. We had a few crashes, but it just made the kids laugh. The hills were safe, not like the one at their last house when Bennett broke his arm! The only problem was Grandpa only had two sleds, so we bought a few more. We bought one really nice one and another little cheap sled. Wouldn't you know it, the cheap one was the best sled. The fastest one out of all of them. Since we have been home, the sleds have been put to good use. Jason takes the kids on rides behind the horse, it is pretty funny to watch.

All dressed up

On Christmas Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa Brown gave each of the kids a present to open. They were so excited to get to open a present two days before Christmas! They all sat down and ripped their presents open, and almost all together said "oh, clothes". They were not to excited to get new Sunday clothes, but don't they look nice!